On Wednesday, Julie and I made a mini trip to Minneapolis. We went to a Twins game, went out for dinner, stayed overnight and were back on Thursday afternoon. Nice and relaxing.
The first stop was the hotel, where we dropped the car, and then we walked over to Target Field. On the way there, we ran across a long line of food trucks, so instead of paying for the ball park food, we decided to try something new. I had the Korean BBQ Burrito from Vellee Deli, and Julie had carnitas from Barrio. Both were super good – either would be highly recommended.
Julie at the Barrio food truck
We got to the game a little late and missed the first inning, but the rest of the game went well. I snagged us some good seats off StubHub (they were padded!), so we had a great view. The Twins won and we got to see a big home run and a Twins shutout of the A’s.
At the field
Julie didn’t get heckled for her Brewers hat.
After the game, we went back to the hotel and checked in. Julie swam some laps in the pool and then we went to Piccolo for dinner.
As always, everything was wonderful. Here’s a rundown of what we had:
Burrata with compressed oranges, celery, wild fennel pollen and chili oil
Cauliflower with green almonds, creme fraiche, asparagus, and malt
Poached duck egg with ham hock, parmesan, and chives
Slow cooked veal heart with canned Italian tuna, lardo, and capers
Taleggio and nettle tortellini with fennel jam and fried Calabrian peppers
White shrimp and razor clams with cucumber, fava beans, and sweet potato
Blue fin herring with “eel sauce”, soybean puree, Benton’s bacon and spinach
Callistor Farms chicken with asparagus, fresh hearts of palm, caramelized lemon, and dill
Quail and pork belly with sweat pea falafel, watercress, and yogurt
Veal breast with velvet pioppini mushrooms, beef tendons, dandelion greens, and carrots
Six Points pork tenderloin with Swiss chard, radish pickles, lardo, and crosnes
Crepe cake with golden raisins, pine nuts, and vanilla ice cream
Duck egg pot de creme with chicory sugar and pistachios
Chocolate kumquat tartlet with hazelnuts and ginger chocolate sauce
As always, everything was perfectly done. The clear “winner” of the night was the poached duck egg with ham hock. It was so good that I actually ordered another one before dessert – this was my birthday dinner, so I got to do what I want!
Other things of note – shrimp and sweet potato go together well. I wouldn’t have ever guessed that. Crosnes are a weird, very tasty little tuber. We had to ask what they were. Julie also confirmed that nettles are one of her favorite things, oddly enough. It’s not something we see very often, but we had them in one of her all time favorites at Menton in Boston, and then again at Piccolo, in the tortellini, and she loved them both times.
Me, enjoying my egg
